


Everything

by WiltedRosesandRainyDays



Category: Graceling
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-01-24
Updated: 2020-01-18
Packaged: 2021-02-27 11:53:38
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 510
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22296616
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/WiltedRosesandRainyDays/pseuds/WiltedRosesandRainyDays
Kudos: 6





	Everything

** _Brigandell_ **

Words and feelings that didn’t belong to him shuttered through his mind as he held tight to his wife’s hand.  
Pain.   
_I can’t.  
_Heartache.   
Determination.   
Guilt.   
Blame.   
Anger.   
He was struggling to contain what his wife couldn’t. It was moments like these, moments of her pain, when her power spiraled out of control, reflecting her emotions like a mirror.   
He threw himself back as a surge of her anger overcame him. He was trying, rocks he was trying. But the brick wall was crumbling.   
_It’s her fault. She knew it wouldn’t work. She knew she would become pregnant. She knew. She wanted another monster in the world._  
The wall reformed again as the last angry thought filled the crevices like mortar. Sense flooded his mind once more as he came back to his wife’s bedside, took her hand, knelt next to her.   
Tears formed a river down her cheeks, her eyes distraught and bloodshot, her lips dry and cracked. Pregnancy had not been kind to her, and the birthing process even less so. A dry, brittle scream that tore its way up her throat and through his heart ripped out of her mouth. He pushed away glorious hair of fire from her sweat dampened temples. Inclining her gently and sliding pillows away, he slipped in the bed behind her, holding the hand of his brave wife. Her hands clenched his as she whimpered.   
“They’re screaming, they’re screaming, they’re yelling, they’re crying. They won’t stop. They won’t go away. They won’t disappear.”   
He knew the voices she spoke of, the voices of minds, that wrought his own wife’s mind when she was overwhelmed.   
He looked up at the head of his wife’s guard. “Get everyone away. This wing of the palace is to be cleared immediately.”   
She nodded brusquely. When his wife’s grip loosed as much as it would he knew the order had been carried out.   
“Push,” the healer said roughly. “It is time to push, Lady Princess. You must push.” 

* * *

He looked into the crystal eyes of his children. Two. Twins. Taliadell and Adamdell.   
His wife held Adam, stroking his green hair. Hair that was an unearthly combination of dark greens and browns. The infant blinked sleepily at his mother, eyes barely open.   
Talia was in his arms, feeling too light, too small for something that was so large. She looked up at him with calm eyes, turning her head gently into his chest. He knew what he would see if he moved the blanket from her head: hair of every shade of blue that was lighter then the sky, white, pale gray.   
“The kingdom wants to see them,” his wife said softly, almost as an afterthought.   
“Not yet, not yet.”   
“We can’t protect them forever,” she responded.   
“We can’t. But we can teach them. Help them learn from our mistakes, help them move past their own. We can teach them how to protect themselves so that even when we can’t; they can.”   
She nodded. “This world will be hard on them. But they will flourish from it.”


End file.
